Nice, comprehensive post, Nelson. Another great resource is Make Internet TV from PCF: http://makeinternettv.org/
Kevin On Thu, Jul 31, 2008 at 9:15 AM, FreeCulture.org - Students for Free Culture <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Writes Nelson Pavlosky on our blog: > > During my time interning at [SPARC][1] this summer, I've been working on > getting them involved with online video in a free culture compatible > fashion. In an effort to make sure they remain ideologically pure and > practically well-guided, I've written up a "best practices for online > video" document for them (republished below) which contains all of the > goals I think an organization should pursue when > creating/publishing/using video online. > > What do you folks think? Anything I missed? Anything you disagree with? > If other SFC members and the Internet at large agree that these are good > practices that SFC should follow, perhaps this could be adopted as an > official SFC document? > > ### Best Practices for Online Video > > * **Exercise your fair use rights -** If you don't use it, you lose > it! When you need to quote something or reference something, do it, > don't be scared. Just follow the Center for Social Media's "[Code of > Best Practices in Fair use for Online Video][2]". > > * **Open content licenses -** Make it obviously legal to share, cut up > and remix your content. Use a [Creative Commons][3] license that allows > for remixing. (All current CC licenses allow for sharing, at least for > noncommercial purposes.) > > * **Encourage remixing -** Provide a copy of the video in an > uncompressed, unedited form somewhere. This can make it easier for > people to reuse your content in future projects. > > * **Provide a copy in an open video format -** Use the [Ogg Theora][4] > video format! It's an open standard, meaning we know exactly how it > works, and it is not patent-encumbered, meaning we don't know of any > patents that would prevent you from using it however you want, and > nobody can force you or anyone else to pay royalties for the "privilege" > of using the format. See [Xiph.org's page on Theora's benefits][5] and > [why Ogg Theora matters for internet TV][6]. [Blip.tv][7] allows you to > upload in Ogg Theora and it will attempt to play Theora videos in your > browser using the [Cortado java video applet][8] (see the [Inquirer > article][9] on this). > > * **Provide multiple formats -** That said, you should try to provide > as many video formats as practical. Give people options, in case they > have trouble playing or using one or more of your formats. Just make > sure one of those options is always an open format. > > * **Open source video editing - **When possible, capture and edit your > videos with open source tools, and promote those tools to others. > Unfortunately, it is currently difficult to do FOSS video editing on Mac > OS X. It is slightly easier to do it on Linux with tools such as > [Kdenlive][10], [Kino][11], and [Cinelerra][12], and Linux distributions > dedicated to working with multimedia such as [Ubuntu Studio][13]. Also, > the next version of [VLC media player][14], 0.9, is expected to make it > easy to do screencasting / screen capturing on any platform, with a nice > GUI / wizard to walk you through the process. > > * **Open source media server -** Use open source software to serve up > your video. This is easy if you are video podcasting: any blogging > software that produces a [web feed][15] with [enclosures][16] will do, > such as [Wordpress][17]. In fact, with Wordpress, all you have to do is > link to your video file in a format WordPress knows about (MP3 and MP4, > from quick testing). This automatically packages the video in an > enclosure in your RSS feed so that anyone with a smart feed reader can > automatically download the video. The [Podpress][18] plugin for > Wordpress should make this even easier. An open source media server for > streaming video can be a bit more complex. The option I am helping SPARC > pursue at the moment is [ePresence][19], an apparently mature open > source project which unfortunately requires a Windows computer at the > moment, but which is supposed to be migrating to Linux in the distant > future. > > * **Open source client -** People should be able to view the video > using 100% open source software, and you should encourage them to do so. > [Miro][20], a free / open source internet tv and video player, is great > for podcasting. As for streaming media, just make sure it plays in > [VLC][21]. > > * **Offer a downloadable format -** Sometimes people want to access > video while not connected to the Internet. Offering a download link lets > people with slow connections watch your high resolution video through > the power of delayed gratification. Also, letting people download your > stuff aids distributed preservation. > > * **Decentralized distribution system -** Services like Youtube offer > convenience, but we at Students for Free Culture believe any one player > monopolizing video distribution is bad. It's good to preserve options of > self-hosting and self-aggregating available, and to use them in parallel > with other distribution methods. > > * **Redundancy and long-term preservation -** Post your video to > multiple locations so if one goes down it will still be available. Be > especially sure to use the [Internet Archive][22], as that is meant for > long-term preservation. ([Blip.tv][23] will crossload video to the > Internet Archive for you.) > > * **Provide good metadata -** Tags and other descriptors can make it > easier for people to find your video. Thumbnails can make it easier to > skim through your content (automatically provided by Internet Archive). > Categorize! Annotate! > > * **Write out a transcript -** Gives you more googlejuice / makes your > site more attractive to search engines! Also more accessible for the > disabled. > > * **Provide feeds and other ways to subscribe to your content -** If > people like what you have, make it easy for them to get further updates. > > * **Bookmarking / social networking / embedding -** make it easy for > people to save the location of a video, and to share it with others. > Naturally, try to support open source tools when possible, such as the > [Connotea][24] scholarly bookmarking software. > > [1]: http://www.arl.org/sparc/ > > [2]: http://www.centerforsocialmedia.org/resources/publications/fair_ > use_in_online_video/ > > [3]: http://creativecommons.org/ > > [4]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theora > > [5]: http://theora.org/benefits/ > > [6]: > http://maketelevision.com/log/why_ogg_theora_matters_for_internet_tv > > [7]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blip.tv > > [8]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortado_(software) > > [9]: http://www.theinquirer.net/en/inquirer/news/2006/05/31/bliptv- > to-become-an-open-youtube-alternative > > [10]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kdenlive > > [11]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kino_(software) > > [12]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinelerra > > [13]: http://ubuntustudio.org/ > > [14]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player > > [15]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_feed > > [16]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS_Enclosures > > [17]: http://wordpress.org/ > > [18]: http://www.mightyseek.com/podpress/ > > [19]: http://epresence.tv/ > > [20]: http://www.getmiro.com/ > > [21]: http://www.videolan.org/ > > [22]: http://www.archive.org/details/movies > > [23]: http://blip.tv/ > > [24]: http://www.connotea.org/ > > URL: http://freeculture.org/blog/2008/07/31/best-practices-online-video/ > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > [email protected] > http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss > -- )_)_)_)_)_)_ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
